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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a
href="http://www.redding.com/redd/op_editorials/article/0,2232,REDD_18098_4607266,00.html">http://www.redding.com/redd/op_editorials/article/0,2232,REDD_18098_4607266,00.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span class=headline1><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:14.0pt;font-weight:bold'>Klamath dams' removal would have
severe impacts</span></font></b></span><b><font size=4><span style='font-size:
14.0pt;font-weight:bold'><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p><span class=smalltext><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt;font-weight:bold'>By Marcia H. Armstrong</span></font></b></span><br>
<span class=smalltext><b><span style='font-weight:bold'>April 9, 2006</span></b></span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span class=bodytext><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>It has been 20 years since Congress passed the Klamath
Act for the purpose of recovering anadromous fish (salmon) in the <st1:place
w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place> system. Much of that time, parties have
engaged in a tug of war over flows. Fingers have been pointed upstream at the
negative of natural resource use on fish habitat, resulting in a cessation of
timber harvest on local national forests and a suit that has halted
suction-dredge mining. Although some support has been provided to the heroic
voluntary habitat restoration efforts of farmers and ranchers in the Scott and <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Shasta</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">River</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
valleys of the mid-Klamath (where the fish spawn and rear), the bulk of funding
has been expended elsewhere. <o:p></o:p></span></font></span></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>With 700
miles of coastal fisheries about to be restricted because of a second year of
low chinook returns to the Klamath, obviously what we have been doing is not
working. Yet all we hear is the same old cry for flows, finger pointing and the
demand to shut down more activities upon which the inland economy depends. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Research
being done in the Klamath by Scott Foott of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">California-Nevada</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Fish</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Health</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
indicated that in 2005, half of chinook juveniles sampled were infected with
the parasite Ceratomyxa Shasta and 91 percent infected with the parasite
Parvacapsula. Thirty-eight percent of the fish sampled were dually infected.
The infection is generally lethal. The infection rate has been increasing over
the sampling period since 1995. These are the same infections that caused the
fish die-off of adult salmon near the mouth of the Klamath in 2002. The
parasites have not been found in the mid-Klamath tributaries. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Foott has
observed that increased <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place> flows in
May did not appear to affect the rate of infection in juvenile fish. It was
actually the increase of water temperature to 18 degrees centigrade,
accompanied by a reduction in flows, that finally seemed to cause a decrease in
infection in juveniles during the month of June. In regard to the adult die-off
in 2002, the National Research Council in its final 2003 report stated,
"... no obvious explanation of the fish kill based on unique flow or
temperature conditions is possible" and "It is unclear what the
effect of specific amounts of additional flow drawn from controllable upstream
sources (Trinity and Iron Gate Reservoir) would have been." High
temperatures may have stressed them, making them more susceptible to disease,
but they did not die of low flows. The adult fish died of disease. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The hue
and cry has been raised to tear down the dams on the Klamath. <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Siskiyou</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>
thinks that it would be rash to rush into removal of the <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath
River</st1:place> dams. There are more than 1,600 property owners around <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Copco</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Lake</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>
behind the lower complex of dams. In addition to providing low-cost renewable
energy from hydropower, these facilities provide roughly $750,000 a year in tax
revenue. The impact of dam removal to the county and local residents would be
substantial. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>There are
no compelling data or studies to demonstrate that dam removal is the best
answer to assist in the recovery of fish. Information from PacifiCorp indicates
that water quality would actually be decreased by dam removal. The county is
particularly concerned about the effect that sediment migration might have on
salmon runs. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Alternatives
to dam removal have not received the attention they deserve, such as fish
ladders, trucking and other means of bypassing the dams. The county feels
alternatives to dam removal should be tested on a pilot basis. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting
different results. <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Siskiyou</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType>'s economy now stands at 11 percent
unemployment -- 18.8 percent on the <st1:place w:st="on">Klamath River</st1:place>
corridor. Our median household income at the 2000 census was only $29,530.
Let's take some new approaches to solving this problem before all of our
economies collapse. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Marcia H.
Armstrong is a <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Siskiyou</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">County</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> supervisor. <br>
She lives in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Fort</st1:PlaceType>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Jones</st1:PlaceName></st1:place>.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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